


Caught in the Crossfire

by Secrettheorist22



Category: Original Work
Genre: Captivity, Caretaking, Enemies to Friends, F/M, Minor Character Death, Secret evil organization, Spies, Tortured for information, Whump
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-08-05
Updated: 2020-08-05
Packaged: 2021-03-06 05:00:26
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 7
Words: 13,088
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25737673
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Secrettheorist22/pseuds/Secrettheorist22
Summary: Avery Hastings' life finally begins when her boss assigns her to her first field mission. She meets some new character's that plots the world's demise as well as a long forgotten friendly face. Can She hold up to where the job takes her or will she get in over her head and doom the planet?
Comments: 9
Kudos: 2





	1. New Beginnings

**Author's Note:**

> The big dogs attend a meeting to discuss how to get back on top.

It was a rainy Tuesday in London. The day started off like any other, people were rushing to their offices to start the work day while children gathered in the schoolyards.

Everything was how it was meant to be, even for the billionaire Drake Collins. Drake was an American with dark neatly combed hair, always dressing like a politician in an expensive three-piece suit. He was a special member of British Society and he knew many people -- he has even met the Queen several times for tea. Drake had ties with every organization in England, as well as a few places in Scotland and Ireland, and for an American this was a major accomplishment. He had come to his wealth by working his way up the business ladder as a highly skilled stock exchange trader, but what everyone doesn't know is that he really made his fortune in Black Market dealing and money laundering.

Drake Collins is the best at dealing with off the book sales and money exchanges, and that is what made him extremely valuable to the underground organization known as Black Dagger. Drake has been a member of Black Dagger for five years now and has become the leader of the organization. There were eight other members from different parts of the world each with their own set of skills and contributions that helped make Black Dagger thrive.

Drake had hopped into the back of his Porsche and was driven to the main headquarters of Black Dagger in Southward, where he would meet with the other eight members to discuss their upcoming plans. He had been waiting for this day a long time and had already poured millions of dollars into the startup of the most groundbreaking operation the world has yet seen.

After an hour drive across town, he had arrived at the Bank of the Republic, which is a fully functional bank building, where the meeting would be held. Drake approached the entrance with his trusted friend Frankie following close behind. Frankie, who was tall, well built with closely shaved hair and always looked like he meant business and was Drake's personal driver that drove him everywhere.

Drake and Frankie walked through the main entrance past the security gate to the back of the bank where there was a soundproof room with the eight other members waiting for Drake to deliver his next plan to put Black Dagger back on the terror list once again.

As Drake walked in the room, everyone stood up and shifted down so he could have the head of the table during the meeting.

"Good evening everyone," Drake said as he sat down. "I have called this meeting to talk about the new beginnings of Black Dagger. I have come up with a plan that will give us control of the two most powerful nations, as well as all the others with ties against them or aligned with them."

A member that sat to the right of Drake was rather eager to ask several questions on how they would recreate the once great organization their ancestors ran. This member was none other than Hannah Founder. She was the daughter of two of the greatest criminals in the world, all skilled with an unfathomable amount of knowledge dealing with the art of deception. Hannah was a brilliant young girl that joined Black Dagger at a young age, not just because of her parents, but because of her unbelievable ability to pick up any skill or ability in a matter of minutes. She always hid behind a pair of black rimmed glasses with her long brown hair covering her face.

After shuffling through the stacks of papers that were passed around, Drake continued with explaining his plan. "Operation Prime Eagle is a strategic plan where the United States and United Kingdoms, as well as other nations that I have done business with, become controlled by our agents to lead the world how we want it to be. The world has suffered enough as these nations have determined what is right based on their own personal agendas. My plan to gain access to Project Phoenix will make these nations bow to the will of Black Dagger so we will be able to rise and take their place to control the world to our own personal agendas."

Hannah interrupted and proclaimed, "How will this Phoenix idea bend the most powerful nations to the command of a group of assassins?"

Hannah was British, and on hearing that her mother nation was going to give up their power to a terrorist organization made her think about how this plan would work and if it could succeed.

Drake was surprised hearing a question like this from someone like her but politely said, "I am glad you asked, and since you have asked I think it is time you receive your first mission. You have been in the back seat for long enough and besides you need to experience the real power of Phoenix. You see, Phoenix will work because it will give us control of the infrastructure of several high up facilities devastating each country's own government from the inside. Without the power to control the government, countries will wage war trying to overthrow each other as we will profit greatly from it. Dr. Ortiz's genius in weapon sales and distribution will increase greatly and we will not only become richer than anyone can imagine, but we will rise to power and the world will have no choice than to conform to us as we fund each war controlling which government defeats who."

Hannah glanced at the stack of papers that were passed out when the meeting started and she said with a sigh, "And how do we get access to project Phoenix?"

Drake stood up as the meeting was coming to a close and stated, "It's simple really, only one person that we know of knows anything about Project Phoenix and I am sure that with her... cooperation she will give us all the information we need to control Phoenix. As I hope all of you will have a lovely day, we will start Operation Prime Eagle in just a matter of days once we have acquired Phoenix."

Hannah commented yet again, feeling like she was asking too many questions said, "And who is the asset we need that will lead us to Project Phoenix?"

Everyone grabbed their stack of papers and gathered them into a pile and quietly stood in that back room of the bank and waited to hear Drake say who their asset was that would make them not only the rulers of the world but billionaires as well.

Drake smiled as big as a politician running for President and said one simple name...

"Avery Hastings."


	2. Just Recon

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Newbie gets a promotion. Can she handle it?

As the alarm rang throughout the house, Avery Hastings grumbled as she rolled over to silence it for just a few extra minutes of sleep. Trying to open her eyes to the red glare of the numbers Avery could just make out the time saying 8:45. Her eyes shot open as she realized that she was running late and flung herself out of bed running over to her closet to throw something on. She quickly grabbed a faded red baseball t-shirt and threw it on and slipped into some ripped skinny jeans and laced combat boots up to her ankles. Running through the house with her toothbrush in her mouth, she started the coffee pot brushing her teeth every second she could take a breath. After making sure she had her coffee maker working, she moved back to the bathroom spitting her excess toothpaste into the sink to wash it down the drain and grabbed her hairbrush as she quickly pulled it through her tangled blonde hair. 

Back in the kitchen, Avery poured a cup of coffee adding enough cream and sugar to kill someone and headed toward the door grabbing her keys and leather jacket. Avery was in such a hurry she didn’t even check to see if she had locked the door behind her and ran to her cherry red Scion FR-S and threw her jacket into the passenger seat while putting the coffee in the cup holder and kicked the car into drive and sped off to work. After a thirty minute drive to Langley, she had finally arrived at the Central Intelligence Agency. 

Avery hopped out of her car and went inside to the security gate to get her access pass. She continued to the elevators and headed up to the eleventh floor where there was a main conference room at the end of the hall. As she entered the room all eyes shifted towards her and her boss rolled his eyes saying, “About time you got here, next time Avery you should really pick up your phone.”

Avery pulled out her phone and saw that she had five missed calls as she gave a shy grin and took her seat.

Her boss, James Killian, was the director of the CIA and had been since Avery has worked there. James was a tall man that always wore a cheap suit and red tie with an American flag pin on the left side of his jacket. 

“Now that everyone is here, let’s get down to business. We have just got word from some of our London friends at MI6 that the terrorist organization Black Dagger has resurfaced after being off the grid for ten years. Avery, you will fly to London to meet with their agent who will be working with you on this operation. This is strictly a recon mission, you are not allowed to engage Black Dagger, you are only to see and report back if they are up to anything.”

Avery was surprised they were finally going to send her on a mission, she was a highly trained CIA agent and has worked for them for five years and finished training school at the top of her class, but they had never put her on a real assignment until now. 

“Sir why are you sending me to London when you could send anyone?”

“Avery, you know as well as I do that you have been here for a while now and it’s time that you take your first mission. You are ready for this, I’ve seen you work and Black Dagger is the most threatening organization in the entire world and I know you are the most suited for this job. They have members scattered all over the world and if they have come out of hiding, they could be planning something catastrophic. That is why we are sending you, and I imagine that working with Jack Holland will help ease the journey.” 

Avery was drinking her coffee as he said the words as she choked, spitting it out, only to follow with coughing like crazy. Jack Holland was not just some MI6 agent; he was their best. He was extremely resourceful and he was the best marksman Avery had ever heard of. He could shoot the top off a two liter drink from over one hundred yards with a pistol. Avery was excited, not only to work with London’s best operative, but to see her best friend again.

Jack and Avery were raised together by Jack’s father, Adam, and his mother, Victoria. Jack was like the brother Avery never had, and they truly cared for each other. She lived with them from the age of ten to eighteen, then she moved back to America to go to college at Vanderbilt University where later she joined the agency at twenty-two. 

She hasn’t seen Jack since she left England to come to her real home in America. Avery lived with Jack for two reasons, the first being because her parents died while they were on a trip in Africa. The second was because, after hearing of her parent’s death, Jack’s family took Avery in because they were the only friends Avery’s parents had. Avery doesn’t remember much of her parents and she never looked into their deaths; she was always grateful for Jack’s family taking her in, even though they never talked about her parents.

As James continued to brief the room full of people, all Avery could think about was seeing Jack again.

“Avery, are you paying attention? This is important.” 

“Oh, yeah, what were you saying?” 

“I was saying, Avery, that the meeting was held in London near Southwark and you are to keep your eyes and ears to the ground, this is a recon mission. Your flight will leave tomorrow at eight and you will be in London that afternoon. Jack will be waiting at the airport to take you to the safe house that MI6 has set up for you. I need you to go down to the garage where Damian is waiting for you to give you all the equipment you will need. Good luck Avery, I have complete faith in you, now go home and get ready to leave.”

Avery grabbed the file folder that was handed to her and walked back to the elevators to go down to the parking garage to meet up with her tech guy Damian. As the elevator reached the garage, the doors slid open. Standing directly in front of them was a short man with curly brown hair and a lab coat on. He smiled as Avery made eye contact him. Her and Damian were very good friends and often shared ideas for new gadgets while working as an analyst on most missions. Only giving detail to places, people, hardware, or targets; she was excited to finally go out into the field. 

“Avery, I hear you finally got assigned a mission.”

Damian had a high pitched kind of girl voice, as he mostly sounded like a nerd even when he wasn’t talking tech stuff.

“Uh… yeah I was a little surprised.”

“Well it’s about time you get a field assignment. I thought last time when you were told to brief agent Jones you were going to stab him with the poison dart pen I made you.”

“Trust me, I really wanted to, but anyway I really have to go home and get packed so what do you have for me?”

“I got you the standard recon gear; goggles, microphones, bugs–”

Avery interrupted the list he was giving her, “You got anything that is totally awesome and maybe doesn’t include recon?”

“Well technically I’m not supposed to give you anything other than this stuff…”

Avery smiled as she leaned in, “But…” 

“But, I know how dangerous Black Dagger is so I’m going to give you this bobby pin.”

“A bobby pin?” He could tell Avery’s disappointment.

“Avery, why do you doubt me? You know nothing is ever as it seems. This bobby pin can one pick any lock because of its skeleton key design, and two you just pull the little rubber ends off and they are tiny explosive devices that unfortunately won’t kill anyone, but give you a good escape option. That’s all I could fit in it but it might come in handy, so keep it on you at all times.”

“Thanks Damian.” Avery looked down at all of her gear and then looked back up at Damian, “Well I should be going now.”

“Be careful Avery, you’re my favorite to design for.”

Avery laughed as she stepped back on to the elevator and rode it back to the lobby floor before leaving in her car back to her house to study the casefile and pack for tomorrow.


	3. Old Friends

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Avery and Jack finally meet.

After a long boring flight, Avery finally touched down in London just in time for an early dinner. She grabbed her things from the overhead bin and exited the plane, going to the lobby to claim her other bags she had brought with her.

Waiting just out of view of Avery was a man with jet black hair wearing a t-shirt with a long trench coat and faded jeans. He was smoking a cigarette as he watched Avery grab her things and walk toward the parking lot. This mysterious man followed far behind her, perhaps to see who would pick her up from the airport. One could only guess that Black Dagger had sent him to spy on Avery and to see where her safe house was or maybe it was just to see if she was working with anyone else. As he got closer to her, the risk that she could notice him at any moment grew, but he continued to move in.

Avery turned just enough to see him in her peripheral vision and she recognized him immediately. She turned around so she could see him face-to-face, and by the time she had gotten all the way around he was directly in front of her.

"You know smoking is bad for you right?"

"Well in our line of work I don't think a cigarette is my biggest problem," he said laughing as they hugged each other.

Jack grabbed her things as he walked toward the parking lot, "It's good to see you after all these years, but I was a little surprised when I had found out you had joined the CIA."

Avery looked at him as if she knew he was about to bring that up, "I know how you feel about me being an agent, but you know why I became one. Not knowing anything about my parents while being raised by yours, made me think about a lot of things, and while I adore your parents, I kind of miss mine."

Jack paused knowing he brought up bad memories as Avery just continued to talk. 

"You remember when we both discovered your parents were agents for MI6, even though they didn't want us to know. I mean look at you, you followed in their footsteps and joined the military a year before I left for America. What was I supposed to do, become a school teacher?"

Jack stopped and set the luggage down, "Of course not, it's in your blood just like it is in mine. You were born for this job."

"Well, your parents taught me very well, as they did you."

Jack nodded picking the luggage back up and started walking towards his car again pointing out which one was his, "Here we are, now we should get going before it gets dark."

Avery and Jack both got into the company car provided by MI6 and drove through London to the safe house that was located in Holloway just off the Thames River. It didn't take long to get there from the airport, so Jack decided to show Avery around the place she would be living for the next few days before they went and got dinner.

The safe house was an apartment above a local coffee shop that had windows facing the street and some facing alleyway that ran beside the small shop. It wasn't a small apartment, housing for maybe two people, would be perfectly comfortable for Avery with it's dusty safe house vibe.

After Jack had helped Avery with her things, she grabbed her coat and they went to have dinner at a local restaurant named The Edward Lear. If there is one thing Jack knew about Avery, it's that she loved to watch football. They walked a little way down the main road to the small pub where they sat down at a table in the back in perfect view of the Liverpool match against Southampton. They both settled in, ordered, and with Avery starting to laughed at the situation the two of them shared, Jack soon followed.

"I cannot believe after all these years, here we are just sitting here like nothing has ever happened."

"I know it seems like just yesterday you left for America and I would never see you again."

Avery missed Jack so much she didn't even notice that Liverpool was up by two with the half just starting. They talked about everything they had been doing since they had parted ways all those years ago. They talked about school, the military, training camp, Jack's parents, and even the past relationships they've had.

Avery smiled as she steered the conversation into more personal territory, "You ever had anyone wanting to be a future Holland?"

Jack frowned as he replied, "There was this one girl, her name was Olivia. She was incredible."

She cocked her head at that, "What happened?"

He looked up at her and smiled, "Oh, you would have hated her."

"That didn't answer my question"

"It just wasn't meant to be. My job interfered too much and I couldn't give her the things she wanted."

Avery laughed a little, "Yeah, I know the feeling. Nothing ever worked out for me either."

After they ate, they went for a walk around the block, circling back to the apartment. They continued the walk checking out the local shops and just reminiscing about when they lived together.

"Jack, why did your parents take me in all those years ago?"

He looked at her as if he was confused by her question. "I don't know, why do you ask?"

Avery paused for a minute and looked down at a necklace that hung around her that she pulled out of her shirt and said, "I never knew anything about my parents and I never bothered to ask yours about them, I'm even starting to forget how they died."

Jack could tell that Avery truly wanted to know about her family as she hung on to the key that her mother gave her before she died. He wondered why his parents would have been so generous in taking in another child they really knew nothing about. Jack explained that after they were done with the mission they could drive to Wales where his parents were living. They could both take some time off and see if they couldn't find the answers Avery desperately wanted to know.

With nighttime coming in fast, they had finally made it back to the little coffee shop apartment after the long walk and hours of talking as they attempted to catch up. Jack escorted her up and wished her goodnight and told her that he would be back the next morning around eight to get her.

"Avery, please try to get some rest and call me if you need anything. I am staying just outside of the London city limits, I would tell you where, but under strict advisement to not say. You know how rules can be."

Avery told him that she would see him in the morning as she shut the door and went to get ready for bed. As she was getting ready she began to have a feeling of uncertainty, but she had no idea why. This was an easy mission; just find, analyze, report, and go home. There was just something that she couldn't shake. After thinking about it for several minutes she decided she would just go to bed and hope that the dooming feeling she was having would go away.


	4. Harper Gray

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> New Foe, or mysterious friend? Nah, definitely foe.

Avery didn't sleep at all because of the feeling that something bad was going to happen, and soon. She couldn't quite put her finger on it so she tried endlessly to fall asleep but she just couldn't. One o'clock became two, then three and four o'clock followed. By five that morning she decided to get ready for the day.

One thing that always helped clear her head was working out. She did sit-ups, push-ups, pull-ups, basically all the ups then decided to go for a run around the town. As she ran, she thought about the mission to keep her mind off all the things she wanted to know about her parents and her past life before she lived with Jack.

The time now was around seven thirty as she made it back to the coffee shop. She went in and ordered an espresso with two extra shots of caffeine to get her through the day, as well as chocolate chip muffin. She decided to sit in the front corner of the room so she had a good view of the front door as well as the street so she could see Jack when he came to pick her up. Avery sat there, ate her muffin, sipped her coffee, and read the Daily Telegraph. As she turned the page she noticed a man on the other side of the street sitting in his red Mini Cooper with a camera pointed in the direction of her. She didn't let the man notice that she had seen him as she sat there trying to finish her paper. Avery tried to act as normal as she could until Jack could get there and it didn't take long before he arrived. Jack came in through the front door and noticed Avery sitting in the corner and went over to her and took a seat. She greeted him and told him to act normal telling him about the man in the Mini Cooper across the road. Jack got up to go order something and looked out the window as he got to the counter. Jack was confused as he ordered his macchiato and took it back to sit with Avery asking her, "Are you sure you saw a car over there?"

Avery was mystified as she looked, not caring if the man saw her or not, to see that there was nothing there. No car, no man, and no camera. Jack looked at her as if she was going crazy, "Are you okay? You seem really to be shaken up?"

"I don't know, I really thought someone was there, it must be because I haven't got much sleep." 

"Are you sure you are ready to start today? I can go on ahead and you come later?"

"No I'm good, let's do this."

Avery got into Jack's car for the drive to London's business district and took up watch in an abandoned building across from the Bank of the Republic, which is supposed to be the headquarters for Black Dagger. The building was abandoned, but the structure was completely intact. Most of the rooms were still filled with furniture. They climbed the stairs to fourth floor and set up shop in a room above the entrance across from the bank. As they we sitting there watching the building, hoping for members of the terrorist group to show up, a red Mini Cooper pulled up in front of the bank. Avery knew right then that the red car was not a dream and she said, "Jack that's the car from this morning, I knew I wasn't crazy."

Jack grabbed the binoculars and used them to see the car close up. "Are you sure this is the car?"

"I am more than sure, Jack. What do you see?"

"I can't believe it?"

"What! Who is it?"

"If this is the guy you saw, then we might have a problem."

"What? Why? I can't read your mind you know."

Jack looked at Avery as if for the first time in his life he was really scared, "That is Harper Gray."

"Is that name supposed to mean something to me?"

"Harper is an international hitman and he has been on the MI6 watch list ever since I started working for them, and if he is working for Black Dagger we have a major problem."

Avery grabbed the binoculars from him and scanned the front of the bank as Jack grabbed his own.

"Look Jack, is that Drake Collins walking into the bank?"

"Yes it is and it looks like he is meeting with Harper."

Harper Gray, a German, would sell his services to the highest buyer, and he would do whatever was asked of him for a price of course. He grew up in a poor family and was forced to work from a young age. He would help feed his family by stealing from local markets and, by the age of fourteen, he was noticed by a street gang that took him in. They paid him for selling drugs and moving materials across Germany. He worked his way up the ladder in the gang to where he was the right hand man and, when the leader died, he took over and made billions in selling drugs and smuggling goods across the German border. By the time he was in his twenties, he was on every black market radar in Europe and was approached by a local militia that trained him to be a hitman giving him an opportunity to pass the drug business up. He was extremely talented, and knew it, so he left the militia and started contract work as a hitman and made even more money than he did in the German gang.

"Do you have the parabolic microphone?"

The CIA bag that Damian gave Avery and the bag that MI6 gave Jack was filled with a ton of equipment to use for this mission, like high resolution parabolic microphones, heat signature binoculars, tracking devices, and a wide variety of bugging devices that can be planted. Jack grabbed the microphone from Avery as they both put on headphones so they could listen to what the two men were saying.

"Hello Harper, did you get what I asked for?"

"Of course sir."

"Fantastic."

"What do you want with this girl, she look so... helpless."

"This girl has something I want."

Jack looked at Avery in shock and said quietly, "Are they talking about you?"

Avery returned the look in terror, "I think they are. I told you that there was a guy outside the coffee shop."

"I know. I should have believed you."

Drake continued to talk to Harper about the pictures he had taken, "Was there anyone with her?"

"I believe she was waiting on someone but I cannot be sure."

"I want you to continue work and tomorrow there will be a meeting at ten here in the bank and I want you to be there so you can update me on anything you find out."

"Of course sir that is what you are paying me for."

Avery started to panic and she set the headphones down and started to pace the room, "What am I going to do? They know who I am. What do they want with me? What if they come for me?"

Jack grabbed her arms and forced them by her sides, "Avery get a hold of yourself! You don't know if they were talking about you or not. We have information on the meeting and we must call it in and continue with the mission. Call your boss tell them you might be compromised and ask what you need to do."

Avery took a deep breath and calmed her mind. Avery knew what she was capable of and she has helped deal with more difficult situations than this one and wasn't going to let it affect her. Avery turned to Jack and nodded, "Yeah you're right all I need to do is call it in."

Avery grabbed her phone and called into the CIA headquarters.

"This is Mr. Killian who am I speaking to?"

"Sir, it's Avery, I have discovered some information about an upcoming meeting maybe containing the other members of Black Dagger lead by Drake Collins."

"That's wonderful! What else have you got for us?"

"Sir I think I might be compromised, I was listening to the meeting between Drake and a man named Harper Gray --"

Killian interrupted her, "Did you say Harper Gray?"

"Yes sir. Do you have any information about him?"

"He is a hitman out of Germany and is extremely dangerous. You think he knows you are there? Gray has killed five of our espionage agents and if he has whiff of you then I want you to take no chances, I'm calling you home."

Avery was surprised at his words, she was scared but she knew what she was capable of. "Sir I will not be coming home, we still don't know what Black Dagger is planning. You didn't just send anyone on this mission, you sent me and I plan to follow through."

Jack looked at Avery and mumbled to himself, "Now that's the Avery I know."

Killian was surprised at what he was hearing, "Avery are you sure? I can have you on the next flight out and we can have MI6 take over the mission."

"No I am not going home, you sent me and I will find out what they're planning."

"Very well. Avery please be careful, you are a valued agent and I would hate to lose you."

Avery hung up the phone and turned to Jack who was still looking out the window to see who else would show up.

"Hey Avery come look at this, do you know her?"

Jack passed the binoculars over to Avery and she looked out the window and notices a girl a little younger than herself. "I have no idea who that is, but she seems to be good friends with Drake."

"Yeah, she does. Let's see what they say."

They pointed the microphone in their direction and listened intently. "Hello Hannah, it's so lovely to see you. Did you have a good drive?"

"Yes I did, has Gray been here yet?"

"Why yes, he has, and so far his expectations have met my standards. He has one final task and then he will be greatly compensated."

"Good, he comes highly recommended and I trust his work."

Avery told Jack that maybe he should call in his agency to see if they had information see if they could find a connection. After calling everything in Jack's boss couldn't find anything on Hannah and nothing new on Harper they didn't already know. They were both disappointed by this but continued to watch the bank.

"Avery, I think tonight we should break into the bank and see where this meeting could be held and plant the bugs."

Avery looked at him as if he was crazy, "How are we going to break into a bank?"

"You and I both know we are capable enough to figure out how to break into a bank."

"That is true. So when are we going?"

"Midnight would be best and that's a while off from now so why don't we start planning for this heist?"

"Jack, where am I going to stay now that I have to worry about Harper Gray?"

"You can stay with me in London."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes I am sure, I can't let anything happen to you."

"Okay, maybe we should go get my stuff from the room now that we know Harper is here and we have a window."

Jack nodded as he grabbed his keys and gave them to Avery to retrieve her stuff.

"I'll stay here and continue to watch the bank and you go."

She smiled with her eyes filled in confidence, "I'll be back before you know it."


	5. Breaking In

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Can they pull the heist off with success, or will the mission fail before it even begins?

As time seemed to fly by, Avery had returned and Jack had begun sketching the layout of the bank. They were both in luck to find out there were several climbing stores nearby that sold all the climbing gear they would need. The plan they had crafted was simple: they would wait until all the bank employees have gone home for the night and cut the power to the building, after the power was cut they would have a few minutes to hack the security system to override the main controls to the building with the computer that was provided by MI6. With both the power cut and the system were hacked they would then climb up the back of the building with the equipment they had just bought and wait on the roof for the backup generators to kick on, from there they would use the building's camera to see where the guards were and track their moments. The plan seemed extremely simple and easy, but like all plans they aren't perfect.

Covered in black and ready to do the most exciting illegal thing yet, Avery paced back and forth as she ran algorithms on the security system trying hard not to set off any alarms. When he got back from scouting the bank out they continued watching well into the night. They had watched men come and go but overall they couldn't tell if everyone was out. 

"How many people work here?"

"I have no clue, what kind of security are we looking at?"

Avery grabbed the laptop as she scratched her head, "I'm not great with code and I'm afraid if I start now I'll trip an alarm and everything will go on lock down before we can get in. I have access to the cameras but that's pretty much it." She took a seat beside him and passed the computer.

"Yeah this is good, we can throw the cameras on a loop and get in without alerting anyone."

As midnight drew closer, the more excited both of them got about the break in. They grabbed all of their gear and ran across the road to the back of the bank, and lucky for them there was a fire escape that lead to the roof. Once they got to the top, there was a hatch that lead to a top floor balcony. Avery checked the cameras again before they entered so they could see where the guards were and possibly where the meeting would take place. As she looked through the feed she could only spot five guards on the second floor and everyone else was on the first. Passing the computer over to Jack he found that there was a door but no camera that lead into the room. They both looked at each other and smiled, "That's the room," at the same time, just like old times. It would be challenging for them to get into that room unnoticed because it was on the first floor with all the people on it, but they had to to get a leg up on this operation.

They were trying to think of what they could do when Jack cut in, "We could still cut the power, if I'm correct the generators won't kick on for five minutes and if we hurry we can get down there and into that room before the lights come back on."

"Yeah but how are we going to get out of the room?"

"If it were me in that room I would always have another way out just in case something were to go wrong. They already don't have cameras in there so what's to say there isn't an emergency exit."

"Well let's hope you're right."

They both strapped night vision goggles and secured a rope so they could scale down to the first floor. As Jack hooked them up Avery hit the kill switch to the power then flipped the hatch open quietly and jumped through gliding down gently. By the time they had both reached the bottom, there was no one in sight, no guards, no employees, nothing. They looked around for a way into the room pressing on the secret door realizing it had a passcode lock on it and they didn't have time to figure the code out.

Jack whispered, "What a waste. We came all the way down here for the door to be locked."

"It's no waste when you have a scramble key with you at all times."

Jack quietly laughed, "You are always prepared aren't you?"

"Of course, what kind of spy would I be if I wasn't?"

"Obviously one better than me."

Avery plugged the scrambler into the keypad and waited for it to show the password for the lock, and in a few seconds they were in. Avery went in first and Jack followed shutting the door behind him. The room was way bigger than they expected as it lead down to a basement set up as conference room at the bottom of the corridor. Down what seemed like the longest hallway ever, they arrived in complete darkness as Avery found the light switch so they'd have light to work in when the power came back on.

"This didn't go as bad as I thought it would," Jack said as he took his goggles off.

"Yeah but are we going talk about the fact that there weren't guards or people in the building even though the cameras showed that there were?" The lights flickered on and Jack started planting the listing devices without further comment. "Jack, you don't think that's weird at all?" 

"I'm sure it's just a security feature, now come on we don't have much time." They continued to work hoping they'd come across the exit when they had finished planting the bugs.

After a few minutes they had finished and started looking for another way out of the room, and just as they were getting close, they heard the door being flung open. With nowhere to hide, Avery quickly continued to look for the way out of the room but she had no luck as she looked to see if Jack had made any progress. As they were frantically moving throughout the room Harper Gray walked in with what looked like a 1911 semi-automatic pistol, "The two of you stop right there!"

Avery and Jack both froze in their spots as they turned around to face Gray. Gray started shouting at them to put their hands on their head and get on their knees. Avery and Jack knew they had no moves against him and did what he said. Avery looked over to Jack with a smile on her face, as she started to lower her arms from her head turning quickly as she reached into her backpack. Harper yelled as he fired a shot at her. Avery quickly ducked rolling on the ground to dodge the bullets and threw out a flash bang and ducked for cover. As the loud bang went off followed by a flash Jack was blinded but Avery ran to him grabbing his arm telling him to run as they jetted past Gray holding his face. They had made it back to the door they had first entered and ran out not stopping for anything. Jack was still blinded but was dragged behind Avery all the way up to the apartments. As they got to the room Avery quickly gathered all their things and looked into the street to see Gray wiping his eyes as he ran to his car and drove away. "Jack, I'm sorry I didn't warn you before I did that."

"Oh no it's okay, I-uh... better than being shot."

[...]

Harper drove to the other side of London to meet up with Drake at a restaurant to tell him about the break in at the bank.

"Wow, Harper you look terrible."

"You didn't tell me she was a spy!" He slammed his hand down at the table with rage. Not only did Harper not get all the information about Avery, but he also underestimated her by allowing himself to get blinded by a flash bang. 

"Well I thought you would have been able to figure that out for yourself, now did you do what I asked?"

"Of course I did, the tracker is in place and is functioning as it should be. When they cut the power and broke through your firewall I had complete access to their computer and all of its data. I already uploaded it to this computer, as well as, the tracking information."

"Excellent job Harper, you've done well."

As Harper handed over the laptop to Drake and pulled up all the information. Drake pointed to the screen at Jack's name, "Who is this partnering with Avery?"

Harper laughed as he explained that he was MI6 and he wouldn't be in the way of their plans. "I have seen him a lot on most of my missions but I am always one step ahead of him. He might be a good agent, but he's a terrible spy."

"Did they finish planting any listening devices in the meeting room?"

"Yes they did but I can have some of my men do a sweep and clear the room out."

"No, I want them to hear the plans we talk about tomorrow and I don't want them to suspect that we are onto them."

"As you wish, but what about Avery?"

He smiled as he wiped his mouth scooting his plate back, "You will know when the time comes."


	6. Thanks for Nothing

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jack and Avery move forward after the heist.

Jack and Avery had just made it back into London after their close encounter with Harper Gray, and pulled up to an extremely nice apartment complex that was multicolored and way out of place. You couldn't miss this building if you were color blind.

"It's colorful isn't it?"

Avery laughed as they drove up to the building, "You have got to be kidding me. You picked this?"

"No, I did not. They said it would be the least suspicious thing if I set up here, besides we are just going to rest up then go back to the bank."

"Yeah that's true, I can't imagine what the inside looks like if the outside looks like this."

Jack parked the car then both of them headed inside, and the moment she walked in the building she was shocked. The inside was painted light gray with black tables and chairs in the lobby, it was so boring compared to the outside. The apartments were set up to look like rooms in a hotel, but not just any hotel but a five star one.

"The unit we are in is 1525," Jack said as he hit the call button for the elevator. Hitting in the fifteen they rode up arriving in no time, as they walked to the room to rest up before the meeting took place. When they entered the room and it didn't look like any hotel Avery had ever been in, this one was quite large with a huge living room, two bedrooms, and a full size kitchen that looked more like a penthouse than a hotel. The living room had a large black modern couch and a glass coffee table in front of it as well as a mounted flat screen television. Avery walked to the kitchen as it had an island bar with pots and pans hanging overhead and an open flame stove.

"Wow Jack, this place is amazing! I could live here and never think of it as a hotel."

"This is normal for MI6, you haven't stayed somewhere this nice before?"

She rolled her eyes at him as she played with the pans, "Uh yeah the CIA has a wicked budget plan for buildings that have all four walls that are intact. 

He smiled knowing he messed up by asking. "Hey why don't we get some rest and get ready for that meeting." 

[...]

After about five hours of sleep they both woke up to start gathering their things for the meeting at four. They both had changed out of their black suits they wore during the break in and into a more casual wear. Jack had throwing on some light colored jeans and a red and white baseball shirt with three quarter length sleeves and Avery into some loose fitting jeans with a simple black t-shirt. The time was around eight o'clock and Jack decided to break for breakfast, "Hey what do you want to eat for breakfast?"

Avery peaked over the back of the couch to look into the kitchen, see Jack waving a pan around, "Uh, why are you holding a pan? Please tell me you aren't about to cook?"

He stopped hunching down to see her, "Wait, are you serious, you don't think I can cook?" She turned herself toward him, raising her eyebrows in question, "Stop that! Of course I cook, now what do you want?"

She smiled, shaking her head "Well, as long as you can actually cook, I'll take some chocolate chip pancakes?"

"Chocolate chip? You really haven't changed have you?"

Avery chuckled to herself as she stood walking straight to the coffee pot as Jack got everything out to make pancakes, eggs, sausage, and toast. "You really go all out for breakfast don't you?"

"Well you know what they say, it's the best meal of the day if you do it right."

"Yeah, okay while you do that I'll check the audio on the bank." She grabbed the computer and pulled up the listening devices they had planted. "They are all still active. Do you think Gray thought we were just looking for something and didn't find it? I mean if I were him I would have swept for bugs after a break in like that."

Jack circled the counter and took a seat beside Avery, "I'm not sure. Maybe he didn't think about it, you did catch him off guard last night with that grenade."

She turned to him and shrugged, "Well at least we get to listen to the meeting after all."

After they ate they got the tools they needed to hear the meeting they left for the bank to scope out who was going to attend the meeting. With the meeting taking place in an hour, Avery got the camera ready to take pictures of anything and anyone that goes in the bank or around it. The first to show up was a young woman dressed in expensive clothes coming out of a black Porsche being escorted by a large man in a suit. The second was a middle-aged man who looked Asian but was dressed in everyday clothes, like jeans and a t-shirt. The third was another woman who looked even more average than the man before her. Three more people came up together in a white Range Rover and they looked like they had just flown in from some tropical island wearing beach hats with shorts and t-shirts on.

"Is it just me or do these people look like terrorists to you?"

Jack looked at her and scratched his head, "I mean no one has ever seen any of them so maybe that's why they look so average."

As time drew closer to the meeting one final car pulled up. It was a Hyundai Genesis Coupe painted bright blue. A very young girl stepped out and it appeared to be Hannah, the girl they had seen at the bank with Drake the day before.

"Look, it's that Hannah girl again."

Avery passed the binoculars over, "She must be an apprentice of Drake to be so young and so involved."

"I don't understand why you would want to be involved with a group like that...or a man like that."

Jack sat the binoculars down and looked at Avery with his eyes wide, "Maybe she didn't have a choice, maybe that Drake's kid."

"Do you really think a man like Drake could hide a kid from public view?"

"Avery, think about it, she has no public record. I mean look, no one can even catch Drake as a money launderer, it could be very possible she could be his daughter."

[...]

Drake sounded more cheerful than ever as he greeted everyone to start the meeting, "Good morning everyone, it is so nice to see you all here. I hear that you all had a pleasant trip and are ready to get down to business."

Harper cut in and said, "Sir I hear we have a change in plans?"

"Why yes Harper we do have a change in plans. The new plan now is depending on some key factors."

Hannah dropped her papers and looked up, "The plan is changing? What key factors are you talking about?"

"My dear Hannah, no need to worry, your part is not changing. I want you to handle the second phase with Harper."

"The second phase? Me? Why?"

"I want you to show us what you have to offer, I mean it was one thing to let you in the group just because of your name, but it is another to actually give you a job. You can't be our poster child forever, besides if you are as good as your parents then I need not worry about giving the organization over to you in the future."

Hannah was shocked at what she was hearing, she never could have imagined that he would one day make her leader of Black Dagger. "Uh, T-Thank you sir."

"Do you think you can handle phase two?"

"Yes of course I can."

"Okay now that we have discussed up until the third phase does anyone have any questions?"

The middle-aged Asian man that had arrived second spoke up, "What are these key factors you mentioned?"

"Why I am so glad you asked, these key factors are depending on phase two, if we can gather the information we need then we are good to go with Operation Prime Eagle at our secret facility I have built for this very mission. After we get the information about Phoenix then we will put it to use and the world will be in chaos."

Hannah shuffled some papers around that were in front of her before clearing her throat, "Do we have access to Phase one? From what I hear we still don't have a location yet?"

Drake looked at Hannah and then looked at Harper, "We do have access and we should start phase two tomorrow morning, so Hannah get ready because it is up to you to handle it."

Hannah nodded her head in agreement with Drake and told him she would try her best to accomplish the things they needed.

"Well with everything discussed, any questions?" Everyone seemed to know what they had to do. "Well if that's everything, you can all be on your way and I will notify you of the next meet location."

Everyone except Hannah, Drake, and Harper left the room and went back to their everyday lives like nothing had happened, while Drake held up a finger shushing Hannah before she could ask any questions. They all walked out of the room into the bank lobby leaving the door open so Jack and Avery couldn't tell they had left the room.

"Hannah, what is it you want to ask me?"

"Sir, I know Avery Hastings has the information we need, but do we even know where she is?"

Drake smiled and looked at Harper, "Harper what do you know of Avery?"

"Ah, well she and that friend of hers at MI6 planted listening devices all over the meeting room and if it were me, I wouldn't be far from them. I suspect they are across the road in that abandon building, but it would be stupid to move now because of Jack."

"Who is Jack?" She felt dumb as soon as the words left her mouth, she really had no information about anything.

Drake came in before Harper had a chance, "Jack is the MI6 agent partnering with her."

"And he won't be a problem, but I need to wait until he is not with her."

Hannah sighed, "Okay, so tomorrow my work begins."

[...]

"Well that was a waste of time," Avery said as she sat the headphones down.

"Well, it wasn't that bad. We at least know they are planning something big. How about we go back to the apartment and try to figure out what this Phoenix is and what Operation Prime Eagle is?"

"Yeah...okay." Avery and Jack packed all their equipment up and loaded it into the car and headed back to London. "Do you remember anything about my parents, I know you met them a couple of times."

Jack looked at her as she stared out the window, "Yeah, they were very nice people from what I remember but they didn't like to talk about personal stuff."

She shot her attention to him, "Really? Personal how?"

Jack shifted in his seat in obvious discomfort before answering her, "I am not sure, but whatever they did for a living they were very well off."

She looked away and at her hands, "I don't get it, wouldn't I have got some of their wealth since they had died? I mean it's not about the money but why didn't I see any of it?"

Jack grabbed her hands, "Avery you are spinning and I don't have any answers, I never thought about it so I'm not sure. Maybe they left you out of their will or something?"

She grabbed his hand back, "But why, I was their only child?"

Jack shrugged, "Maybe they didn't have a will, I mean how could they have known they would die on that plane." Avery pulled her hand from his and stared out the window as her mind drifted off in thought, thinking about how her parents basically vanished from the face of the earth. Jack signed, "Oh good, we are here. I can finally get out of this super depressing situation with you."

"Ha ha very funny. I guess when we get in there we can unload and start brainstorming what Black Dagger could be planning."

He smiled stepping out of the car, "Okay well then let's get in there and get started."

[...]

They headed up to set everything up and started listening to the meeting again to make sure they didn't miss anything that was said as Avery started to pace the floor as she talked aloud, "Okay so what we know is that there are three phases. One is gaining access to something, two is retrieving the information, and three is well... chaos."

Jack nodded popping a chip into his mouth, "We know that what they want to gain access to or whatever is called Phoenix and the entire plan itself is Operation Prime Eagle."

"Yes, but what is Phoenix? It seems like their entire operation depends on it."

"Maybe we should call everything we heard in and see what they can come up with."

Avery signed, "Yeah okay."

[...]

They both walked to opposite sides of the apartment to make the calls to their agencies.

"Mr. Killian here, who's bothering me?"

"Sir it's me Avery."

"Oh Avery, how goes it?"

"Well sir we got access to the meeting Black Dagger had today, but we didn't get much information from it."

"Well what did you get?"

"Okay we got that they are planning something big and it comes in three phases. The first phase we believe is that they will hunt down information pertaining to something called Phoenix, then try to get something from it. Whatever they get from Phoenix they will use it to do something."

"So you only know about the first and second phases?"

"Yes, maybe we can stop them before they reach the last phase."

"Well since you have this info and you are the only agent in England right now I'm giving you permission to proceed and do everything you can to stop them and I will contact MI6 to send more help out tomorrow afternoon. Be careful Avery, they are very dangerous."

"I'll be careful, I got this."

Avery hung up the phone as they both walked back into the living and by this time it was already getting dark outside. As she threw herself on the couch facing the tv with a large view of London out the windows on either side. She turned herself around to look back toward the bedroom, "How did your call go?"

Jack was pulling on a jacket as he grabbed the key to the car, "They want me to come in and brief a group of agents."

"What? How long will that take?"

"Uh well I am not sure but I know this little Chinese place not far from the agency and I'll bring some back. Are you going to be okay here while I'm gone?"

She laughed as she laid back, "What do you think I can't take care of myself?"

He straightened himself up, "What, no. I just want to make sure you will be okay here and I promise I'll be back before you know it."

She shook her head as he began to leave, "I'll be here, also bring some wontons back!"

[...]

After about an hour Avery could hear something at the door and headed towards it saying, "Jack, are you already back?" The closer she got to the door the more of a bad feeling grew within her as the door flew open and a flash grenade rolled across the floor. Avery saw it and quickly jumped behind the couch, and as she cleared it the grenade went off three men dressed in all black with their face covered entered the room.

One of them was a large man that looked like he weighed 300 pounds of muscle while the other two were average build and fit. Avery leaped from behind the couch trying to take two of them out at once only to successfully tackle one to the ground while another man ripped her off of him holding her arms behind her. The man she tackled hopped up pulling his fist back trying to punch Avery in the face, but she ducked and he hit the man holding her making him quickly let go and fall to the ground. She turned back around just as another man swung his foot around in a roundhouse kick. She couldn't dodge it as the kick knocked her into the television breaking it taking her breath away as she fell to the ground. The one larger man ran at her and picked her up off the ground and threw her onto the glass coffee table shattering it into a million pieces. Avery, being cut up and tired from the beating she was getting, eased herself up as Harper Gray walked into the room, "I didn't say kill her! Ugh do I have to do everything myself?"

Harper walked over to Avery as she tried to get up off the floor and grabbed her by her hair pulling her up. She struggled to get away as she swung her fists trying to hit Harper, but he quickly grabbed her arms and forced her against the glass windows. He let go of her left arm and punched her with his right, "That was for the flash bang." Harper then pulled a rag out of his coat pocket and covered Avery's nose and mouth as she struggled more and more to get away. He held her tight as her struggling grew sloppy and she eventually fell unconscious in Harper's arms, "and that was for trying to hit me."

He pointed to the largest man to grab her as the other two rolled a laundry cart into the room. They lifted her up and put her into the cart as they pushed it out of the apartment to the van waiting outside. All four of the men quickly hopped into the van and drove away before Jack could come back and discover she was gone.


	7. Unfamiliar Surroundings

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Harper tries to get the information he needs. By any means necessary.

Avery, slightly opening her eyes, could see nothing around her. Her head was pounding and the faint smell of sweetness made her stomach turn. She tried to look throughout the room she was in but it was complete darkness. She tried to come to her senses and try to remember what had happened, but it was a bit hazy. She then realized she was sitting in a chair with her hands tied behind her back and her legs bound to each chair leg, but knew not to panic, at least not yet. She knew that’s what they would want her to do so she took a deep breath and as soon as she did the lights came on and blinded her. Avery threw her head down trying to block the light from her eyes but it was no use with her hands tied up, and after a few seconds someone grabbed her hair forcing her head back.

Harper Gray was standing over her as she could just make out his face from being blinded by the light around her.

"Ah, it's so nice of you to wake up, I really thought I would have to force you awake," as Harper said this he let go of Avery's hair.

"What do you want?"

"Easy now Avery, we are getting there."

"Fine then, proceed I guess?"

"Now that is much better, I assume you already know who I am so you can just tell me what I want to know and this can be as painless as possible."

"So you want to know “ who I am and who I work for” yada yada yada?"

"You haven’t done this before have you?" Harper asked as he crossed his arms, “I really thought you would be more experienced.”

Avery paled but tried to keep her composure, “What? Of course I’ve done this, I’m a- well you know. A professional."

Harper sighed like he was getting annoyed, "Yes I’m sure you are. Now please shut up and let me get on with it, Where is-"

Avery cut him off, “Wait? And I phase one and two?” He backhanded her but she kept talking, “W-where's Jack? Did you hurt him?"

Harper growled in return, and wrapped his hand around her throat and squeezed, "First off, you have got to be kidding me and second, Shut. Up."

"Tell me!" She yelled through gasps

He let go and smacked her again, "No I didn't, your little boy toy is fine now please before I cut your tongue out and just suffer the consequences of that. Now no more questions, only answers."

Avery coughed a bit to clear her throat and looked at him, "Fine, what do you think I know that could possibly work in Black Dagger's favor?"

"Tell me where Project Phoenix is."

"Project Phoenix? I don't even know what that is, I have never even heard of it until I listened to the meeting."

Harper clenched his fists, "You're lying! You are the only person left that knows about Project Phoenix."

"No, whoever told you that is wrong, I don't know anything about whatever that is." Harper lifted one of his hands back and slapped Avery across the face. She laughed lifting her head up smiling, "You know...the more you do that, the more you confirm you hit like a girl." When Avery said that Harper became enraged and slapped her again on the other side of her face to leave even marks. "Well…” she coughed a bit, “You sure know how to treat a lady."

Harper’s face turned as red as Avery's after she had been slapped and he stormed out of the room.  _ "Finally, now I can see where I'm at and what I'm dealing with." _ Avery quickly scoped the room out trying to find anything that could help her find out where she was, but all she could see was the steel door with a circular window that only showed her reflection back. After a few seconds of trying to see around the room Harper came rushing back in with two large guards wearing the same black suits as the ones that grabbed her at the hotel. Harper began to yell in German as the two men started to walk toward Avery.

They grabbed her arms as they stood her up with her feet still tied to the chair and Harper came over to Avery and pulled out a large knife and pressed it up against her face to scare her. She took a deep breath and swallowed hard as she watched him squat down and cut her legs free. With her legs free she quickly kicked Harper in the face making his nose bleed and instantly knew that was a mistake as he became more enraged than ever as he grabbed her face as tight as he could and slid the blade across her cheek. Avery couldn't scream because of how tight he was holding her face, and after he made the cut he grabbed a roll of duct tape from his jacket and taped Avery's feet back together so she couldn't kick him again. She could feel the warm blood running down one side of her face as she was dragged toward the back of the room while another large man came in as Harper spoke again, "This is Russo, you'll like him. He hits harder than I do."

Russo was an extremely large and muscular man that smelled of gunpowder with a dragon tattoo down his left arm. Harper laughed as he left the room looking back at Russo as he began punching Avery in the stomach over and over.

[...]

A few hours after Avery had been taken, Jack had just got back to the apartment with the takeout Chinese food. As he rode the elevator up he started to have a strange feeling that something was wrong. The elevator doors opened and he quickly walked to his unit to find the door kicked in and he dropped the food in shock as he quickly searched for Avery. As he looked around he noticed the broken television and coffee table and a few other things that were moved or broken. He searched throughout the room, as tears started to run down his face, for any trace of her. He looked in the living room first in hopes that he would find something of whoever took her but had no luck. Jack had a feeling he knew who took her but assumptions in this line of work gets you killed. He needed proof. He looked around the coffee table and gave out a sign of relief when he didn't find her phone there but then thought of calling it to see if it was in the hotel, he really hoped they messed up and she still had it on her. He quickly pulled his own phone and dialed her number listening for a ring. He waited as patiently as he could whipping the tears from his eyes, he heard a ring coming from the bed room and ran to see if Avery was there but sadly...she was not. He looked in the bathroom and in the closet but there was no sign of her, then he got closer to the ringing coming from under the bed. He raised the bed skirt looking underneath as he held his breath, and there it was, her phone showing three missed calls.

[...]

After an hour of Russo hitting Avery repeatedly, Harper finally walked in calling him off. The men were holding her up because she was too weak to stand on her own and they dragged her back to the chair forced her in it.

"So Avery, have I motivated you enough to tell me where Project Phoenix is?"

Avery was trying to catch her breath knowing Russo had broken multiple ribs, mumbled, "I-I don't...k-know w-wwwhat that is."

Harper looked away from her and pointed at Russo to leave the room and as he left, Hannah came in, "Do we have any progress?"

Avery raised her head in pain trying to see who that was, "W-who a-are y-yyou pep-le...le?"

"Ah, how rude of me not to introduce myself. I am Hannah Founder and as of now you are my responsibility."

"W-wwonder...ful," Avery groaned.

"What I want to know is everything you can tell me about Project Phoenix."

"T-trust me…. I-if I k-knew... I'd tell you. I-I've never….h-heard of it until…" she leaned her head back to breathe, "The m-meeting at the...bank, O-operation...e-eagle something...I- I don't know…. anything. I swear."

Harper walked up to Avery and got in her face, "I know you are lying, you are CIA right? So that means you were trained to lie."

Avery groaned and shook her head, "I-I'm not lying. I don't ...know anything!"

Harper got even closer to her, "Liar!" Harper's breath was so strong Avery could tell what he had for breakfast and was so disgusted by him. He had a smirk on his face as he looked at her in the eyes and said, "That's all you'll ever be here."

Avery continued to stare him down and grimaced before spitting in his face. Harper jumped up and made a fist like he was about to punch her and Hannah yelled, "Enough Harper! Leave us, now!"

He walked out with his two minions following him. Hannah walked a little closer to Avery.

"Avery, please tell me what you know so we don't have to hurt you anymore."

"Y-you can hurt me...all you w-want because I-I have no clue….w-what you want from...me."

"The last people to know about Project Phoenix was your parents."

Avery tilted her head at that and tried to move a bit to get comfortable, "I-I never really... knew my parents. W-why do you think…. they'd know anything?"

"Drake said that they knew. And you were the only one left to know about it."

She frowned and thought for a moment, "My parents are...dead, and they never….told me anything. I-I didn't even know… anything about...them."

"When did they die?" Hannah asked bluntly.

Avery blinked at her forwardness, "W-what? I-I don't know... 2000?"

"How?"

Avery grew a little more uncomfortable by her questions but for some reason she didn't think anything about telling her the answers to what Hannah wanted to know. "I-I was told plane crash"

"The plane crashed where?" Hannah seemed to be extremely curious about Avery's family and Avery wondered why she was asking her all these questions. "Where did the plane crash Avery?"

Avery shook her head slightly and didn't want to tell her. "Tell me now Avery."

"I-I don't know? A-Africa o-or... something?"

"Did they ever find the plane?" Hannah took a step closer.

"W-Why are you asking me...all these questions?"

Hannah ran her hand through her hair as if she was frustrated by the words Avery was saying. "Tell me Avery or I'll send Harper back in here."

She blinked and looked down, "N-no...plane was..f-found…"

"So you say in 2000 your parents were killed in a plane crash over Africa maybe and they never found the plane." Hannah asked for clarification

"W-wh....Yes, t-that's... what I said."

"What were your parent's names?"

She looked back up at that, "W-what?"

"What were your parent's names!" Hannah demanded moving closer.

Avery was getting worried as Hannah became louder and louder with each confusing question. "Uh..."

"Their name's Avery!"

"Mark and Isabella Hasting!" She blurted out.

Hannah rubbed her face as she stormed out of the room leaving Avery alone in complete confusion.

[...]

Jack sat there on the bed and held Avery's phone in his hand as he thought of what to do. He knew who took her, but the only thing he didn't know is where they took her. Jack was furious at himself for letting this happen to her and he would do everything in his power to get her back. 

He pulled out the bag with all the equipment MI6 and the CIA had given them and looked for what he could use to find her. There were binoculars, parabolic listening devices, heat signature goggles with night vision, a cable launcher, a laptop, and an assortment of other tools that were used for recon.

"Not much of this will help me so luckily I brought my gear as well."

Jack pulled out a large crate from the back of the closet and set it on the bed. This was no ordinary crate; this crate had a fingerprint lock on it and it was made of carbonate steel and it was impenetrable. Jack opened the case and inside was a M24 Remington sniper rifle, several attachments for it, and 50,000 pounds. Jack also grabbed his gun out of his suitcase that he brought with him.

"Harper will pay for this, and if he hurts her I swear I'll kill him."

He put on the same clothes he used for the break in and put everything he needed in a backpack that he had in his gun case and he headed out the door.

[...]

Avery sat all alone, finally getting a moment to herself to think. She moved her hands around to see if she could free herself while they were gone, but it was no use, she was too weak from the beat down. Her will to get free gave her enough motivation to keep going and after a few minutes she was finally able to free her hand and started to untie her feet, but she only got half way done before she could hear someone coming. She flung herself back into the seat and held her hands together behind her. 

Harper walked into the room with his two guards and laughed as he said, "I don't know what you said to Hannah, but I've never seen her so mad, you are definitely going to get it now."

Avery blinked, "I-I didn't say anything to her."

"Well that doesn't matter now because you will tell us what you know. Eventually, everyone has their limit." He smiled and came closer to Avery. He pulled his knife out again and the closer he got the better the chance of escape she had. Avery rocketed out of her seat knocking the knife out of his hand as she tackled him to the ground. She started punching him in the face over and over breaking his nose before his two guards ran over pulling her off him.

"Let go of me!" She screamed and fought them best she could.

Harper got up off the floor as he set his nose back into place and looked at one of the guards calmly and said, "Please tell me that that didn't just happen."

Avery yelled at him, "Tell your men to let go and we will really settle this!"

Harper walked up to Avery and got right in her face as she tried to escape the men that were holding her back, "You...will regret that. This...is for my face."

Harper made a fist and raised it back before hitting Avery square in the jaw as hard as he could. Her head jerked to the side with a crack and she was instantly knocked unconscious.

"Tie her back up and make sure she can't get out this time."


End file.
